For the eyes of the Aliens only!
Humans have sent pulsar maps to space which shows the position of our sun with respect to 14 pulsars in our galaxy in order for aliens to find us.
We are continuing from “Are Aliens Ghosting Us?”
It is not a necessary read but you can definitely check out.
As I had concluded there that every plaque sent by humans (by humans I mean mostly NASA) to the outer space in hope of getting intercepted by the aliens was accompanied by this:
A pulsar map is basically a map for the aliens so that they can find us.
If they have Interstellar traveling capabilities implying, they are advanced than us, I think it is a bad idea to give them a map to us. It would be like if native Americans had given Columbus the map to America.
Pulsars
In 1967, Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student, made a remarkable discovery while working with a radio telescope. She observed unusual radio pulses that couldn’t be linked to any known celestial objects.
As a research assistant, she had also played a role in constructing the radio telescope. Initially, both she and her advisor Anthony Hewish considered the possibility that these mysterious signals might originate from an extraterrestrial civilization.
(Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty)
As Bell recounts, “We had no proof that it was an entirely natural radio emission. . . . Here was I trying to get a Ph.D. out of a new technique, and some silly lot of little green men had to choose my aerial and my frequency to communicate with us.”
On further investigation they discovered same kind of signal from other places in the Galaxy and that’s when they realized that they have discovered a new class of cosmic object and named it pulsars.
In 1974 Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of pulsars to Anthony Hewish and Martin Ryle (for his role in building the radio telescope).
Bell was excluded since she was just a student at the time of the discovery.
Pulsars are rapidly rotating, highly magnetized neutron stars that emit beams of electromagnetic radiation from their magnetic poles.
(NASA/Dana Berry)
These emissions create the pulsing effect, with precise intervals ranging from milliseconds to seconds.
Pulsars are formed when massive star cores collapse in supernova explosions, leaving behind small, fast-rotating neutron stars.
Pulsar Maps
In 1971 Frank Drake along with Carl Sagan decided to send the pulsar maps along with few other things for the aliens. Designed by Drake map would be direction for the aliens if they ever want to visit us.
(NASA)
It shows the location our sun with respect to 14 pulsars. Since pulsars emit electromagnetic radiation, they act like a lighthouse.
The sun is at the centre connected with lines to the pulsars. The length of the line represents the distance from the sun.
The dashed line is a number in binary code which when multiplied with hyperfine transition period of hydrogen (7.0402 × 10^ (-10)) gives the frequency of the pulsar. It is also illustrated along the map.
The long dash-free line from the sun on the map indicates the relative distance between our sun and the center of the galaxy.
Will The Aliens Come To Us?
This map might seem like an intergalactic treasure hunt for aliens, but good luck trying to find us! Not that we’re eager for an otherworldly meet-and-greet.
When this map was crafted, pulsars were a new discovery, with only a handful known. Today, we’ve uncovered over a thousand, and countless more await our detection.
In a universe where pulsars might be as abundant as cosmic glitter, hunting for these 14 would be like trying to find a particular noodle in a spaghetti factory explosion!
In our mind-bogglingly vast universe, the gaps between galaxies span millions of light-years. With the cosmic speed limit set at 3 × 10⁸ m/s, embarking on an interstellar journey between galaxies would stretch into millions of years – unless, of course, you stumble upon a handy wormhole shortcut!
Although pulsars are considered to be unique and stable, but periods and orientations of pulsars may change dramatically over millions of years.
So, the chances of aliens finding us based on this is low but if some intelligent lives do find these signals or plaques, they would know that there is other intelligent life form in the universe.
If extraterrestrials aim to chat with us via radio signals or any means, we’d better prepare for a cosmic conversation with reply delays ranging from thousands to billions of years. It will be the ultimate exercise in patience!
Sources
- Welcome To the Universe — Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Pale Blue Dot — Carl Sagan
- https://www.pbs.org/the-farthest/science/pulsar-map/#:~:text=The%20starburst%2Dlike%20diagram%20is,the%20mass%20of%20our%20sun.
- https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200602/history.cfm#:~:text=February%201968%3A%20The%20Discovery%20of,signal%20from%20an%20extraterrestrial%20civilization
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/08/17/voyagers-cosmic-map-of-earths-location-is-hopelessly-wrong/amp/
- https://futurism.com/a-40-year-old-voyager-spacecraft-can-guide-aliens-to-earth
